The invention relates to the filed of microphotonics, and in particular to a planar Mid-infrared (MID-IR) integrated microphotonics.
The wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum is definitely one of the key assets of microphotonics. Devices designed and built to work in mid-IR wavelength region (2 μm to 15 μm) offer the advantage of extending the range of microphotonics applications beyond telecommunication wavelengths. Additionally, such devices possess unique properties which enable several new functionalities over and above their telecom wavelength counterparts.
However, compared to the well-exploited telecommunication wavelength windows (e.g. 1.55 μm and 1.31 μm), the mid-IR range has been a relatively unexplored domain and most previous efforts have focused only on mid-IR fibers and related non-planar devices.